Farmers Make Great Strides at Harvest

Farmers feverishly working in their fields have made great strides in their efforts to complete this year’s corn and soybean harvests.

Statistics released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) show that completion of corn harvest has advanced from 39% for the week ending Oct. 20 to 59% for the week ending Oct. 27 in the 18 major crop-producing states. That compares with 2012’s record of 91% completed and the 2008-2012 average of 62% completed.

Nearly two-thirds of the corn crop is in good to excellent condition in the 18 major corn-producing states and just 13% is rated as poor to very poor condition, the USDA report indicated.

Southern states of Kentucky and Tennessee plus Ohio and Pennsylvania report the vast majority of their corn crops harvested are in good to excellent condition.

The soybean harvest is 77% completed in the top18 states reporting, equal to the average for 2008-2012 but still below the drought year of 2012 when 86% of the soybeans were harvested as of Oct. 27.

Crop Progress report is gathered by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Read more of today’s report at www.usda.gov and click on Agency Reports.